http://www.upworthy.com/a-french-film-showing-men-what-being-a-woman-feels-like-kinda?g=2
After watching the film Oppressed Majority (OM) I can actually imagine living in a culture where the male bodies are "protected" and sexualized while the female bodies are the opposite: exposed, confident, and normal.
Are genders as fluid and constructed as Judith Butler say they are? If she's right then why is it that ALL the cultures I know of are patriarchal? We can criticize Krygystan's tradition of kidnapping women all we want standing on the other side; complaining a tradition of taking sex slaves and servants (or wifes) is sexist and wrong, but why don't we step back and look at our own traditions first?
The OM shows us things that we have taken for granted in our daily lives, nothing as extreme as wife-kidnapping, and reverses the gender roles - it becomes immediately obvious how the gender binary is entirely constructed. Imagine all of the television series show things like OM, where the naked and sexualized is men and men's nipples. Watching OM, weirdly, makes me very happy and empowered as a female-bodies social actor. I start to be able to imagine what it is like to be a male and having my superiority reaffirmed every time I turn on television. This feeling of empowerment makes me question just how much of the concept of womanhood in our cultures around the world is constructed. Obviously we can say the "ancient tradition" in Krygystan functions as a part of the "stylized repetition of acts" that constitute the women identity (Butler); it is not so obvious however when we look at the things we do here in the US, since we are deep in it. The women of Krygystan internalize the repetition and perform their constructed identity in a "mode of belief": they don't even know when and why the traditions started and talk about it as if it being around for a long time is alone enough justification.
Can you think of anything else predominantly represented in our culture that amplifies the significance of the biological difference between the sexes? Males are in fact, or statistically, stronger and bigger than females; However just how much of that physical difference is itself constructed? Aren't women expected to be smaller, skinnier, and weaker in the first place? You would imagine in the world of OM, men will be weaker and smaller than women because that kind of physique is considered attractive for men, who are also constructed to be sexualized objects for which attractiveness is essential.
I am so happy you posted the short film "Oppressed Majority." I was so uncomfortable the entire time, but I really enjoyed it! I can't say I identified with you in feeling empowered watching it, however. And while I do think the message came through loud and clear, I think it's safe to say that it was a little over the top. I think my uncomfortableness stemmed from the reversal of roles. Or maybe it was that I knew something bad was going to happen the whole time. And yet, I watch Law and Order SVU all the time without becoming too disturbed or finding myself uneasy. For those who have watched it, the majority of the SVU victims are brutalized women and abused young girls. Why does this not make me uncomfortable? Am I that desensitized to the rape and mistreatment of women? If so, this would completely back up the point of Zerlina Maxwell's Rape Culture seminar tonight. Her point was that society has become complacent and even acceptable of rape. Maxwell also touched on the effect disbelief has on sexual assault victims and the help that public support can offer. In the film, when the man reports the assault, the woman police officer questions the validity of his report, and his wife even puts the blame on him because of his wardrobe choice. I thought this video went perfectly both with the Mackinnon reading and the lecture.
ReplyDeleteI had a moment while watching "Oppressed Majority" where it actually seemed like an anti-feminist film. There's a moment right before the roles switch back, where the man says, "I can't take this fucking feminist society anymore. It's like our brothers fought for nothing." I know it's referencing a woman basically saying "fuck the patriarchy" and being ignored, but I thought it was interesting how easily this film could be misinterpreted as a dystopia of a feminist world.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen the film "Oppressed Majority," but definitely intend to do so, now that I've read your reactions!
ReplyDeleteI want to address the fact that not all cultures are patriarchal, which, from an anthropological perspective, helps to affirm our conversations about gender performances being artificial. For example, the Moso culture of China is a matriarchal society where households are structured around female lineage. Women choose their sexual partners and invite them to their homes. Examining cultures like these holds valuable insight into the ways in which our performances are culturally determined.